Book Review: The Outsider by Stephen King
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Scriber (May 22, 2018)
Length: 561 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Hard to believe, but the last book I read by Stephen King was 11/22/63 (which was one of the most amazing pieces of literature I’ve ever read), but it’s true I’m probably not as keen to jump on every new release of his as I used to be. And quite honestly, I haven’t been all that interested in picking any of his recent stuff. But something about The Outsider caught my attention. There was some of that old-school King flavor about it that looked promising.
The book opens by laying out the details of a horrific crime, setting the scene for a detective story. In Flint City, Oklahoma, a little boy named Frank Peterson has been murdered, his violated body found in a town park. Based on the mountain of evidence available, including multiple eyewitness accounts and DNA and fingerprint samples, Detective Ralph Anderson arrests Little League coach Terry Maitland at a baseball game in front of the whole town. Everyone is shocked that the well-respected husband and father of two could be capable of such an unspeakable act, but it just goes to show, you can never know what’s going on in someone’s heart or mind, no matter how normal they seem.
The problem though, is that Terry Maitland insists on his innocence. And despite everything the police have on him, he also has an airtight alibi. It seems that at the time of the murder, Terry was out of town attending a conference with his fellow teachers, who all confirm he was with them the entire time. There’s even security and TV footage to back up his story. So what gives? How is it possible that a man can be in two places at the same time? Detective Anderson sure isn’t buying it, and is convinced that Terry killed the Peterson boy, but he just doesn’t know the why and the how. But before he can dig any further, disaster strikes, altering the course of his investigation as well as the fates of everyone involved.
The Outsider is one of those books only Stephen King can write. No one else can tease the reader for a third of the book, without providing any real answers or progress, and still have you eating out of his hands, begging for more. The first two hundred pages or so are filled with an outrageous amount of background information, a lot of back and forth conversations and going over what we already know again and again. Any other author would have me cursing their name, but King somehow manages to make it work. After all, long introductions are kind of his thing, and I put up with them for the most part because I trust he’s building up to something big, and besides, no one can create such an intense atmosphere of anticipation quite the way he does.
In truth, we don’t get to the meat of the story until the second part. Enter Holly Gibney of the Bill Hodges trilogy fame, a series a confess I never really got into, but she was fantastic in this book, despite being a supporting character. She gets involved when Flint City gets in touch with her to see if she can follow up on a few leads in Dayton, Ohio, and thanks to her tenacity and smarts, the team gets a huge break in their investigation. From there onwards, it’s a thrilling and unputdownable hunt for a supernatural predator who feeds on violence, pain and misery. Like many of King’s novels, the story seeks to explore the idea of evil in the world that goes far beyond the understanding of mere mortals. It is here that we begin our transition from murder mystery into pure horror territory.
Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. The plot meanders and languishes close to the end of the second act as we ramp up towards the finale, and the ending felt like it came on and was over and done with way too soon. I also liked the supernatural element, but it seemed to try too hard to be convincing and cover all its bases, when a little ambiguity might have served it better. Trying to over-explain the situation and in general making things more complicated than necessary was why I felt the pacing lagged a bit in the second half, but happily, the conclusion made up for it. While it may have been a little rushed, the scene of the final showdown was dramatic, suspenseful and most importantly satisfying when it was all over.
In the end, The Outsider is a Stephen King novel through and through. Even with its warts and all, that’s a good thing. It’s not the best book I’ve read by him, but it’s definitely up there in terms of readability and how much fun I had with it. If you’re a King fan, it’s well worth your time.
The BiblioSanctum 
I really liked this one, even made it onto my top 10 faves list 😀
I was super happy to see Holly again ❤
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Yeah, I’m thinking I might need to try the Bill Hodges trilogy again!
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Hahaha yes I would say it takes a gifted writer to tease you for two third of a story and not bore you out! Great review Mogsy!
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Yeah I have my issues with King’s writing sometimes, but he’s definitely gifted!
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I’ve been tempted by this and your thoughts on it have sold me!
That and you share my opinion on how breathtakingly brilliant 11/22/63 was.
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Oh man, I love talking to other fans of 11/22/63! It was so different and unexpected, but I think it’s his best work ever!
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The ending got a bit strange and far out, but it was literally a beautiful piece of literature. It’s one of those that I get genuinely upset over the fact that I’ll never be able to experience it again for the first time.
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I feel you completely. The ending was a bit strange, I agree, but he made up for it with the last few pages – I bawled like a baby!
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Have you read ‘Under the Dome’? That ending feels like he wrote himself into a corner, couldn’t figure out a way to make it work so just screamed and wrote the first thing that popped into his head. It was an awesome read up to that point as well.
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Yep, I’ve read Under the Dome and that was one of the books I was thinking of when I spoke of King’s less impressive releases in recent years. It started off so well too, but the ending was just a giant WTF moment. Your description of it was exactly how I felt! 😀
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Like you, I have not been overly tempted by King’s latest works, so your enthusiasm for this one rekindled my old interested for the Master of Horror: it does indeed sound like he’s back to his old tricks (warts and all, as you say) so I will certainly give this one a chance. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Hope you do get a chance to try this! I haven’t had this much fun with a King novel in years!
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Hahaha, when you were describing how King writes and how it (doesn’t) make you feel, I was like “Yes, me too!!!”. Well, except I don’t read King anymore after the first Bill Hodges book, but you know what I mean 🙂
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Yeah King has some writing quirks that annoy me SO MUCH. Sometimes, I Feel like he just likes to torture his readers 😛
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I’m thinking that I would probably find this way too slow to get going. I’ve not really enjoyed any Stephen King books recently and I have doubts about trying this one. Great review!
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Yeah, the beginning was slow moving for sure. Fortunately though, I was never bored 🙂
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Oh wow, hadn’t even heard of this one. So hard to keep up with King. I could spend a couple years reading nothing but King books he has so many, lol. I glad you liked this one but was especially keen to see your thoughts on the end–I think ending a story is one of his weak points as a writer (and I say that as a fan) so it’s always interesting to see how it goes there, lol. Great review!
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Yeah, this one came out earlier this year, and I think I’ve already gotten two more Goodreads alerts about something new from him since? I find it hard to keep up too, which is why I just pay attention whenever one of his books get a lot of buzz, like this one did…that’s how I know something might be worth reading 😀
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That’s a good way to go about it!
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The last King book I read was also 11/22/63! Or maybe Under the Dome, I’d have to look at the publication year. I’ve heard you shouldn’t read this without reading the Bill Hodges books first, but so glad you loved it.
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I think it should be fine reading this without the Bill Hodges trilogy – I didn’t really get into that series, but it didn’t hinder me in any way. Unless you don’t want any spoilers at all, you should be good to go 🙂
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I’m with you on not following Stephen King so much these days. I was a huge fan as a teenager, it hasn’t really grown with me! This one totally went under my radar!
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Yeah, I went through different phases where I loved King, and then became ambivalent towards him, and then stopped reading him all together. It’s good to return to his stuff every now and then I guess!
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I need to try him one day 😉
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You do! He’s got some classics…make sure to choose one of his good ones 😉
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Awesome review!! I cannot wait to read this one!
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Hope you enjoy it!
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Every Christmas, my mother gets me the newest King novel that has come out. Unfortunately, I haven’t been home for Xmas yet, which means I haven’t gotten this one yet 😦 I’ve been deprived of King for far too long!
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I hope you find this one all wrapped up and waiting for you when you get home! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and happy new year!
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I’m glad you enjoyed this one as much as I did. I fell in love with Holly and feel she is one of Kings best characters in a long time. I’m always a tad let down by his endings but this one was pretty good. Great review!
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Yeah, I loved Holly in this one too. Kinda makes me want to go back and give the Bill Hodges trilogy another try just so I can read about her again 😀
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I think I would like this – I’ve added it to the list.
Lynn 😀
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Loved the review, I can’t wait to get my copy of “The Outsider.” (:
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